Boston Flora

Category: Movie Recommendations

  • Tuesday, June 11, 7:00 pm – Inundation District

    Join the Museum of Science Boston on June 11 at 7 for a special screening of Inundation District in the Mugar Omni Theater. In time of rising seas and intensifying storms, one of the world’s wealthiest, most highly educated cities made a fateful decision to spend billions of dollars erecting a new district along its coast – on landfill, at sea level.

    Unlike other places imperiled by climate change, this neighborhood of glass towers housing some of the world’s largest companies was built well after scientists began warning of the threats, including many at its renowned universities. 

    The city, which already has more high tide flooding than nearly any other in the United States, called its new quarter the Innovation District. But with seas rising inexorably, and at an accelerating rate, others are calling the neighborhood by a different name: Inundation District.

    The film, a production by The Boston Globe, premiered in the fall of 2023 as the closing night film of the GlobeDocs Film Festival. See more about the film here.  Free with pre-registration at www.mos.org

    This special film screening is part of the Museum’s Year of the Earthshot, an exploration of the climate solutions and the actions we can take now to live sustainably on Earth.

  • Friday, April 12, 5:00 pm – “Le Poète Lucide”

    Come join the fun with Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) and Berkshire Botanical Garden for a film screening, Q&A, wine tasting, and nibbles on Friday, April 12, at 5 p.m., at BBG in West Stockbridge. This film is “Le Poète Lucide,” directed by Keith Aumont.  This screening is part of the Environmental Film Focus with BIFF.

    Nicolas Joly is one of the founding fathers of the natural wine movement known as biodynamics. Set upon the stage of his Loire Valley vineyard, “The Lucid Poet” illuminates the wisdom, warmth and passion of this winemaking legend.

    Mary and Ben of Dare Bottleshop and Provisions in Lenox and Great Barrington, will be pouring the wine.

    Sponsored by the Roaring Brook Family Foundation.

    Tickets are $35 for BBG members and $40 for the general public.

    Click here for tickets.

  • Explore Munstead Wood, Online

    Take a video tour on YouTube of garden designer Gertrude Jekyll’s former home in Surrey with Head Gardener Annabell Watts.

    Munstead Wood was acquired by the National Trust in April 2023. Its garden was originally created by Jekyll in the 1880s with vibrant flowers, intricate footpaths and Victorian greenhouses. The design of this garden was ahead of its time due to the meticulously chosen architectural plants and color schemes. 

    Jekyll also worked with architect Sir Edwin Lutyens to build a house that could also be her workplace. Designed to look as if it rose from the ground, the house was completed with a dark room, workshop and flower shop to support Jekyll’s work. 

    (Note: Munstead Wood is not open to the public currently.) 

    WATCH NOW

  • Rowallane Garden, County Down – Free Online Video

    Take a virtual journey through the horticultural gem that is Rowallane Garden in Northern Ireland. Carved into the County Down landscape, this 19th-century National Trust garden was created as a space where visitors could leave the world behind and immerse themselves fully in nature. Join Head Gardener Claire McNally through the mix of formal and informal spaces, filled with unique plants from every corner of the globe. Discover the numerous plants that share the Rowallane name, unusual ‘bap stone’ sculptures and a walled garden that was used as a laboratory to experiment with different plantings. You’ll also learn more about how we care for the garden and its historical plant varieties today, keeping them healthy for the future and resilient against the effects of climate change. View on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUWlshNHyxo

  • Sunday, November 19, 4:00 pm – 6:30 pm – Film and Wine at the Garden

    Join Berkshire International Film Festival and Berkshire Botanical Garden for an afternoon of film and wine on November 19, 4 to 6:30 p.m. We will present a screening of Living Wine, directed by Lori Miller, followed by a wine tasting of organic and biodynamic wines. Ticket sales will help support both Berkshire International Film Festival and Berkshire Botanical Garden.

    Merging sweeping wine country footage with insightful interviews, filmmaker Lori Miller’s film showcases the dynamic natural wine movement that is transforming a growing number of northern California vineyards. BBG members $35, nonmembers $40. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/film-wine-garden

  • On Demand – Leith Hill Place

    Leith Hill Place in Surrey was Vaughan Williams’s mother’s family home, and they moved here after his father passed away. It was here that he began his study of music before going on to the Royal College of Music in London where he studied under Sir Hubert Parry, composer of Jerusalem. 

    Believing music to be “the soul of a nation,” Vaughan Williams took inspiration from the rolling hills and winding woodland paths that surrounded him throughout his life but especially in his early years at Leith Hill.

    The National Trust invites you to view a three minute video available now on YouTube to experience the countryside that influenced the composer. Access the free video HERE.

  • Restoring the Gardens at Florence Court, County Fermanagh, On Demand

    A short National Trust video will transport you to the gardens of Florence Court – a Georgian house surrounded by the rolling countryside of West Fermanagh. Discover how the estate, cared for by the National Trust, is being restored with recent projects focussing on the kitchen garden and the rebuilding of glass houses. Previous work has restored the sawmill, carpenter shop and forge. You’ll also find out fresh veg was once prepared in the kitchen and meet a volunteer helping to care for the 90 different varieties of heritage apple trees that grow here. Find out more about visiting Florence Court. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visi…

  • On Demand – Gardens of the Excalibur Estate

    The Garden Museum is pleased to share with you a film celebrating the gardens of the Excalibur Estate in Catford, South London, directed by Peter Kindersley and presented by Matthew Wilson, garden designer, and writer.

    The Excalibur Estate is an estate of prefab bungalows begun in 1946 for families bombed out of their homes. For many it was a chance to make a garden; seventy years later, the Excalibur Estate is as rich in horticulture and biodiversity as any hectare of London. But the Excalibur is being demolished and the gardens vanishing.

    Matthew Wilson’s Uncle Jim was one of the first residents. Last month he visited Excalibur to record the gardens, and look for traces of a favourite uncle. Along the way he met a few of the residents who shared the stories of their beloved gardens.

    The film is 20 minutes long, and free to watch. And please share – https://gardenmuseum.org.uk/film-library/gardens-of-the-excalibur-estate-catford/

  • Sowing Roots: Ras Prince – Sankofa, On Demand

    Ras Prince is a horticulturist of Jamaican heritage and a participant of The Garden Museum’s recent Sowing Roots project and exhibition, which explored the gardening cultures and traditions that Caribbean people have brought with them to the UK since the Windrush generation. In this free film, we visited Ras in his garden at home and the community garden he tends to at Lewisham Sports Consortium. Discover how he uses gardening to connect to his roots – from Rock River, Jamaica to south east London.

    Sankofa is a word in the Twi language of Ghana meaning “to retrieve” (literally “go back and get”; san – to return; ko – to go; fa – to fetch, to seek and take) and also refers to the Bono Adinkra symbol represented either with a stylized heart shape or by a bird with its head turned backwards while its feet face forward carrying a precious egg in its mouth. Sankofa is often associated with the proverb, “Se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi,” which translates as: “It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten.”

    Sowing Roots was made possible thanks to funding from the National Heritage Lottery Fund. Film (21 minutes) by Elijah Grant. Access Vimeo at https://gardenmuseum.org.uk/film-library/sowing-roots-ras-prince-sankofa/

  • Darryl Moore: Gardening in a Changing World, On Demand

    Faced with the challenges of the climate crisis and increasing biodiversity loss, we are at a crucial crossroads in our engagement with the rest of the natural world.

    In an event to mark the launch of his new book Gardening in a Changing World, Darryl Moore had a conversation with Nigel Dunnett and Arit Anderson, discussing our past and present relationships with plants, and how we need to rethink our attitudes to them.

    Gardening in a Changing World explores recent developments in horticulture, ecology and plant science, alongside traditional ecological knowledge and advances in the environmental humanities. The book pushes beyond the notion that gardening is always good for the planet, highlighting alternative approaches to how we can design, inhabit and enjoy our gardens and public green spaces, for the benefit of not only our species, but also all the others we share these places with. This one hour film is a recording of a talk which took place at the Garden Museum in October 2022. Purchase at https://gardenmuseum.org.uk/film-library/darryl-moore-gardening-in-a-changing-world/